Marketing is all about showing customers what they want to see. But it means nothing if your brand doesn’t back up the claims. This is a common struggle for small businesses where operations and marketing are often disconnected. In both realms, demands are high. You need efficient and affordable operations to keep your business going, but you also need a powerful marketing campaign to build your customer base.
However, marketing can’t just go off on it’s own. Talking the talk isn’t enough. Customer trust and loyalty comes from providing exactly the experience that your marketing campaign promises. Here are a few essential tips to align operations with marketing and walk the walk.
Market Your Core Motivations
Start with your company’s core motivation. What are you passionate about? What is the driving purpose or priority of your business? Is it fresh food from local farms? Are they products that don’t break when you put them to use? Are you providing services that truly help customers with their problems?
Every small business has a story, a founder, and a core principle that drives you. Let that be the inspiration for your marketing campaign. Tell the story. Show who you really are and the purpose you are already dedicated to accomplishing.
Pick a Priority and Strive For It
You can also pick a core value and strive to reflect this in everything you do. It might be sustainable operations and green business, reflected in your recycled packaging and choice in business partners. Or it might be excellent customer service, backed by your high-quality support team and 24-hour availability. It might be affordability, backed by excellent prices and financing options.
When you pick one priority, you can easily align both your operations and your marketing on the same track so that your message always matches your performance.
Align Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service
Keep the three elements of customer contact aligned. Make sure that what marketing promises, sales can fulfil, and customer service can support. This is vitally important for creating and maintaining trust with your customer base.
Marketing should be well-versed in the products and services you offer and the level of support that your company can provide. Sales must know what marketing is promising and how support will take over once a sale is complete. Customer support must understand new customer expectations built up by marketing and sales when a customer calls in for support.
Keeping all three teams on the same page is essential to building a trustworthy brand.
Improve Products Based on Customer Feedback
It’s also useful to listen to your customer base when it comes to product development. You can determine exactly what will foster customer satisfaction just by reading reviews and customer service transcripts to determine what your customers want most. You can also loop in your social media campaign by running polls and discussions that can help to guide future product and service developments.
Work With Marketing Partners that Understand Your Business
Lastly, make sure that your marketing team understands your business. If you have an outsourced marketing partner, as many small businesses do, work closely to ensure they fully grasp your business model, core values, and the full scope of customer experience that you provide. This will ensure that campaigns created by a third party are still perfectly aligned with your operations, products, and services.
Here at Oracle Tree, we are ready to truly learn about your business and represent the best that you have to offer. Your customers will see your dedication and company values shine through in the marketing prepared to represent your brand.
Contact us today to begin our first consultation. Let’s get to know each other to better align your company with your marketing campaigns.
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